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Tex-Mex Layered Enchiladas

When I first started this whole healthy eating "thing" I was told that most people cook 4-6 dishes that they love and rotate through them over and over. My first reaction was "not me man!" "Variety is the spice of life!", and "my taste buds get bored"...and other such hyperbole. Well truth be told the following recipe is made at our place almost every week. With little variation. My wife is out of town this week so I took the liberty of experimenting with it a bit. But the basic bones of the recipe are so solid and simple that you would really have to work hard at screwing this up.

This is the recipe that I will make for J. Wade Williams if I ever get the chance to cook for him again. Its the kind of tex-mex'ish-californicatin'- sort-of-new-fangled-"mexican"-dish that I think he would love.

One thing before we get started...I make this in an extra deep lasagna pan. It's 3 inches deep. If you use a regular casserole dish you may run out of dish before you finish the layers. I will explain at the end how I would adjust the recipe for a shallower pan.

So let's get started!

Layered Enchiladas

2 packages Ezekiel/food for life brand sprouted corn tortillas (I have tried other brands and its just not the same)
3 cans of fat free refried beans (black or pinto-I use both) You could obviously use your own instead
3 (8oz.) packets of Frontera red chile enchilada sauce
4 cups of frozen yellow corn kernels (cooked)
1 small can of diced mild chiles
6 small red ripe tomatoes diced

this is really simple so bear with me because describing the process makes it look complicated when really it is a piece of cake.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. pour 1 packet of sauce in the bottom of the pan
2. place 6 tortillas in the pan completely covering the surface area
3. spread one can of beans evenly over the tortillas
4. sprinkle a third of the chilies, tomatoes, and corn over the beans
5. add 6 more tortillas
6. pour 1/2 sauce packet over the tortillas
7. spread one can of beans evenly over the tortillas
8. sprinkle half of the remaining chilies, tomatoes, and corn over the beans
9. add 6 more tortillas
10. pour 1/2 sauce packet over the tortillas
11. spread one can of beans evenly over the tortillas
12. sprinkle the remaining chilies, tomatoes, and corn over the beans
13. place 6 tortillas in the pan completely covering the surface area
14. pour 1 packet over the tortillas and spread evenly to coat

Lay a sheet of parchment paper over the pan then a sheet of aluminum foil over that and fold as tightly as you can to the pan. It does not need to be airtight or anything its just that the foil can't come in contact with the sauce (the aluminum will react with the high acidity of the tomatoes and all hell will break loose) and nothing sticks to the parchment so you may have to play with it a bit until you can keep it all together.

Comments

I tried your recipe, using a small casserole that fit just one corn tortilla perfectly.. oh my goodness it was amazing. This will easily become my favorite dish as well, and it would be great to bring to gatherings. I love your blog and look forward to all the recipes you post.

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